


Paper Plate Awards

by CVdaring



Series: solangelo drabbles [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Anyways, Apollo is a Little Shit, Claiming, Gen, M/M, Will-centric, godly parent, honestly this could be a crack fic, not really that much solangelo but its implied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:47:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24986293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CVdaring/pseuds/CVdaring
Summary: “That’s not what I meant. Also don’t call me that.” Nico lifted himself off the edge of the cot and walked over to put his hands on the desk in front of the son of Apollo. “How’d you get claimed? There’s always a story to it, right?”Will sighs, but doesn’t stop his work to meet Nico’s eyes. “Yeah, I guess. Trust me, Nico, you don’t want to hear it.”~~~~~~~~~my friend and I were thinking about what if instead of a glowy symbol on top on their head, the apollo kids got claimed by paper plate awards. that sing.And then I was wondering how Will would have been claimed.and here we are. enjoy
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: solangelo drabbles [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1783603
Comments: 8
Kudos: 149





	Paper Plate Awards

“Hey, Will?” Nico asked, leaning against the cot he just finished remaking in the infirmary. His boyfriend looked up at his name, tilting his head and giving a hum. “You got claimed before the Battle of Manhattan, right?” 

Will nodded, grimacing at the thought. Whether it was because of the memory of the war, or the memory of being claimed, Nico couldn’t really tell. “Yep, way before. It was soon after I arrived at camp I think.” He returned back to the patient files he was filling out. It was a pretty slow day at the infirmary, but having the brooding son of Hades there was always a distraction, so he didn’t finish them as fast as usual. 

Nico crossed his arms, chewing the next question on his lower lip. “You know, I don’t think I’ve heard the story.”

“You were at the battle, Death Boy, you don’t need to.” Will said, knowing damn well that’s not what he was talking about. 

“That’s not what I meant. Also don’t call me that.” Nico lifted himself off the edge of the cot and walked over to put his hands on the desk in front of the son of Apollo. “How’d you get claimed? There’s always a story to it, right?”

Will sighs, but doesn’t stop his work to meet Nico’s eyes. “Yeah, I guess. Trust me, Nico, you don’t want to hear it.” 

“No, I do!” He whined back, leaning in closer. “Come on, Solace, tell me! You know how I got claimed!” 

“Gods, Nico, you’re really gonna make me relive that?” Will finally raised his gaze to see Nico nod eagerly.

“I mean, it couldn’t have been as bad as accidentally creating a ravine in the middle of camp, right?” 

“Well, it wasn’t what  _ I  _ did persay… it’s just--  _ Dad _ \-- and like--... Ugh.” Will groans and puts down his work, slumping down in his chair. “Fine, okay. Don’t laugh. I’ll tell you.” 

Nico grinned and pulled up a chair to sit across the desk from his boyfriend. 

“ Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary--”

“ _ Solace!” _

“Okay, okay!”

❂

One week after Will Solace arrived at camp via satyr, there was a Capture the Flag game. He stayed with the Hermes Cabin all that week, bonding with the plethora of other demigods in that packed house. Ultimately, he played on their team, accompanying another Hermes cabin mate, Cecil, to go and scout. 

Will really wasn’t much of a fighter, he knew that much when he got there as he was tossed around the camp to investigate who his godly parent was. Absolutely terrible at sword fighting, golden mop on his head not the best for sneaking, rubbish at tending to plants. Even archery was kind of a bust, he only managed to hit the bullseye a couple times (which was good, but not Apollo worthy). Will knew none of that actually helped narrow it down who his father was, gods were always dividing up their blessings amongst their kids. By the time Capture the Flag came around, he didn’t really care, he just wanted to see what the big fuss was about with the game. 

The rules kind of freaked him out though. Kill or injure someone only meant a week without dessert?! Oh gods. Will was going to die at the ripe age of ten, huh. 

Cecil and Will made their way through their team’s side of the forest as the horn went off to signal the beginning of the game. They just had to scout out the other team and report back to the Stoll brothers as soon as they could. A pretty simple task for a couple of demigod kids. 

“Is everyone always this crazy for this game?” Will asked, struggling to step over a tree route as quietly as he could. It wasn’t that quiet and honestly he almost tripped over it. 

“Yeah, dude, of course!” Cecil grinned back at him with that classic Hermes Kid look in his eye: absolutely wild. He was a few paces ahead of Will, maneuvering between the trees expertly. “It’s like letting off a bunch of steam. We’re a bunch of angsty children, you know.” 

Will nodded, suddenly wondering if he should have volunteered to guard the flag instead. “Has anyone actually ever died during this game?” 

“A couple, but not in a while. A lot of close calls though ever since that guy Percy came along. Clarisse is a little hellbent on destroying him.” Cecil said. “Don’t worry your pretty lil head about it, kid, we’ll be fine!” 

“Cecil, we’re like, the same age.” 

“Yeah, yeah, whateve--” Cecil stopped short, holding a hand out behind him to signal Will to stop walking too. “Did you hear that?”

“What? No, what are you talking about?” Will asks quietly, panic bubbling up in his stomach. 

“Russling, over that way--” As Cecil pointed over to his left, a thin blur shot through the air, colliding with him in the chest. He flew back, landing hard against the tree behind him. [Nico laughed at this part of the story.]

Will gasped, rushing over to his friend’s aid. There was a moment or two before he realized the medium sized throwing knife lodged in Cecil’s chest, blood starting to pool onto his camp half blood shirt. His eyes widened and hands started to shake. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen an accident like this happened at camp, but it was the first time there hadn’t been someone else around to fix it. They were alone now, besides maybe the footsteps coming up behind him. 

“Oh shit!” Someone said over his shoulder. “Oh my gods, I really meant that as a warning shot.” 

Will whipped around, barely even registering that she was the one that practically impaled his cabinmate. What did dawn on him was that she was one of his cabinmates too-- One of the unclaimed ones. Lou Ellen, was it? She’d offered to be on the opposite team, just to make the sides more even. His heart raced in his chest, glancing between the two before shaking the panic out of his head. “Okay. It’s fine, it’s fine. Do you have any uh… Ambrosia? Is that the stuff?” 

“No, I don’t- I don’t think so.” Lou Ellen ran over to them, kneeling beside Cecil. “What do we do?” 

Cecil, who had been sputtering and coughing this whole time, managed to give a shrug. “N-nice going, Lou.” 

“Shut up, I said I was sorry!” 

Will tuned them out, thinking back on the last week of camp. He’d spent a little time watching that Apollo counsellor Lee patch up some campers… It always interested him how quickly he got them to heal up. “Okay, uh… Cecil, I’m gonna take this thing out, okay? Don’t die.” 

“Well, if-if you insist.” Cecil croaked between coughs. Will was a little annoyed at how lax he was being. 

He put his hands on the Hermes kid’s chest, one gripping the blade and the other around the wound. Suddenly, without any logical reason, Will had a feeling he knew exactly what was wrong with him. It was like he could see the status of Cecil’s body in his brain. “Punctured lung… Not too deep, it should be okay if we put pressure on it I think.” 

“How the Hades do you know it’s not too deep?” Lou Ellen asked. 

Will shrugged, there wasn’t really an answer for it. He just knew. He yanked the knife out, tossing it back to Lou and quickly using the rest of the fabric from Cecil’s shirt to put pressure on the wound. “Okay, is there… Is there any way to get a medic to us? Like, I don’t know, a flare gun or something?” 

“No, b-but dang that’s a good idea.” Cecil winced, taking a glance down at his wound. The blood was soaking his shirt, peaking through Will’s hands. 

“We should ask the Hephaestus cabin for something like that.” Lou Ellen agreed, watching him anxiously. 

“Shoot, okay.” Will chewed his lip, looking around at the dark forest around them. There wasn’t even a dryad in sight. “Lou, can you go find someone? Get Chiron or something, I don’t know.” 

“Are you sure?” She asked. “Maybe we can carry him back to your flag, aren’t you on the Apollo Cabin’s team? We could--” 

“No, I need to keep pressure on it so he doesn’t bleed out or start coughing up blood.” 

“What if someone else comes and tries to attack you guys? I don’t want to leave--”

“I’ll handle it if it comes to that but Cecil needs--”

“But what if they get you too and then you’re both hurt and--”

“Well maybe the next attackers will actually have ambrosia or nectar or whatever and we won’t die.”

“What if they don’t though?”

“Will?” Cecil interjected quietly. Will ignored him.

“Well if you're quick enough it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“What if I’m not!” 

“Will.” Cecil said again, louder this time. 

“Stop with the what ifs, Lou Ellen, just go!” 

“But--” 

“WILL!” Cecil yelled, reaching over to grab his shoulder. It was surprisingly a lot of movement for someone who just got stabbed. 

“What?” Will snapped, looking back over at him, but his eyes were immediately drawn down to the glow faintly erupting beneath his hands. “...Oh.” 

A faint hymn coursed through the winds rustling the trees, and Will felt like he was the only one who heard it as he looked around. Lou Ellen and Cecil watched as the glow from his hands grew brighter at the sound. 

“What… Are you doing?” Lou Ellen asked, leaning in closer. 

“I-I don’t know.” Will said breathlessly. He thought to take his hands off, but the fear of Cecil bleeding out crept back into his mind before he could. 

Cecil took in a big breath and a grin cracked onto his face. “Dude, I can breathe without coughing. And- and it doesn’t hurt anymore.” 

“What?” Will said again. After a few more seconds, the hymn in the wind subsided along with the glow. He didn’t want to pick his hands up, but that status update in his head told him that… Cecil was just fine. No more punctured lung. He took his hands away slowly, staring as the blood stained shirt didn’t get any redder. 

Cecil quickly lifted his shirt over his chest, sitting up and looking down at the rough scar just above his left nipple. “Holy Olympus, Will, do you have any idea what you just did!” 

“No.” Will replied. It was all he could say. The wind picked up again around them and the tree canopies above somehow parted to allow the blinding sun onto their path. It all seemed way too deliberate to be natural. [Nico: “Oh here it comes”]

Will looked up into the sun, which was surprisingly easy, and saw something thin and flimsy flying their way straight from the big ball of fire in the sky. 

“Should we move…?” Cecil whispered. 

Will shook his head, raising an eyebrow as the unidentified flying object got closer. It was… glittery? And uh… paper? What? It flew directly into Will’s hands, golden glitter circling around it. There was a song playing from it too, but he was way too focused on reading the Ancient Greek inscribed on this paper plate to listen to it. 

_ CONGRATULATIONS,  _ in blinding shimmery gold lettering. 

_ YOU’RE APOLLO’S 34,847,584,950 KID _

And in smaller writing at the bottom,  _ Will Solace. _

Will furrowed his eyebrows at the stupid paper plate, as his two friends absolutely lost it in the background. He looked up at them, turning the plate around. “What the Hades is this?” 

Cecil could barely answer through his cackling. “I-I think you mean ‘what the  _ hyacinth’,  _ oh my GODS.” 

Lou Ellen fell backwards onto her back, propping herself up on her elbows. “Is- Is that that Coldplay song? That literal Coldplay song?” 

Will finally tuned into the music playing magically out of the paper plate. _Lights will guide you home… And ignite your bones… And I will try to fix you._ He groaned, smacking his head against the paper plate and silently cursing his new-found father, Apollo. 

❂

“A PAPER PLATE?” Nico exclaimed with a smile so wide, Will thought his face might crack. “He claimed you with a PAPER PLATE?” 

Will sighed, shoving his face into his hands. “He claims all of his kids like that, Nico, everyone got one. Kayla hit a bullseye on the archery field the first time and a paper plate flew down from the sun playing ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’. It’s mortifying.” 

Nico, who literally could not stop laughing, wiped the joyful tears from his eyes, trying to calm himself before he passed out from the lack of oxygen. “I knew Apollo was a showman but GODS.” 

“It’s the worst. Let’s never speak of it again.” 

“Wait, wait wait.” Nico said quickly, leaning towards the desk. “But… Did you keep it?” 

“Nico…” 

“Keep what?” Kayla asked as she made her way into the infirmary’s main room. 

“Nothing!” 

“His paper plate award for being Apollo’s billionth kid.” Nico deadpanned, looking over to her. 

“Oh of course he kept it! We all did, there’s a board with everyone’s taped up on it.” 

“Kayla, shut u--” Will began to say, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Nico begin to creep out of his chair. “Nico, don’t you dare.” 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Solace, I’m just gonna go see if Percy needs help with… drowning. Or something.” Nico snickered, starting to walk to the door. “I’ll see you later, don’t wait up!” And he bolted. 

“Oh my gods, Di  _ Angelo _ !” Will yelled, abandoning his work and sprinting after his giggling boyfriend. Kayla could finish up for him, he had other things to worry about. 


End file.
